The Sunny Side of Hell
by Castilleja
Summary: Yu Yu Hakusho - Buffy The Vampire Slayer Crossover. When a lost Reikei artifact turns up in Sunnydale, Yusuke and friends go to retrieve it. Of course, they're not the only ones after it, and Sunnydale already has its own Spirit Detective, of sorts.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: YU YU HAKUSHO-BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER CROSSOVER - I know it almost seems too obvious. Two different demon fighters, on two different sides of the world, come together! Takes place after the Dark Tournament for Yu Yu Hakusho and between seasons four and five of Buffy (So Buffy has just defeated Adam, Spike has a chip in his head, and Dawn doesn't exist because the Key has yet to be given a human form.)

Disclaimer: Thank you to Joss Whedon and the creators of Yu Yu Hakusho for the fun characters to play with. I promise to return them un-dented and in good condition. I don't own any of them.

The Sunny Side of Hell

Chapter One

_Yusuke Yurameshi Spirit Detective, champion of the Dark Tournament, savior of the human world at least three times, and currently trapped in one of Tokyo's dress shops - _Yusuke shuddered at the thought,_ shopping. _

"Yusuke, this is a nice shirt, try this on," Keiko's voice broke into Yusuke's internal rant. He looked up and saw that Keiko was holding out a white dress shirt that looked more like something Kurama would wear than anything Yusuke would be caught dead in.

"Eeaah-"

Keiko cut off his protest by putting a finger in front of his mouth and shoving the shirt into Yusuke's hands. "You're not going to the class party wearing your t-shirt and jeans. Go. Try. It. On."

"I hardly showed up for class, why would I show up for a stupid class party?" grumbled Yusuke as he accepted the shirt from Keiko.

"Because _I'm_ going, of course," said Keiko in her sweetest, most innocent, voice.

Yusuke muttered another few grumbles and curses and turned to go try on the shirt and almost walked right into Botan. "BOTAN!" Yusuke yelled and dropped the shirt.

"Hi Botan!" said Keiko cheerfully.

"Hello, Keiko! Hello Yusuke, having a nice day?"

"Not real-" started Yusuke until he noticed Keiko's glare, "Yeah, sure," he changed his answer. "So what is it this time?"

"Whatever do you mean?" asked Botan

"Unless a horde of demons is about to destroy the world if I don't have the right clothes for the party, you're here to tell me about some mission that's probably going to get me killed again," he paused for a moment. "Actually, that sounds pretty good, right now. What is it?"

"YUSUKE!"

Yusuke barely registered the shout before a sharp pain in his cheek knocked him to the ground. Keiko had slapped him.

"I was only joking," he complained as he got to his feet.

Botan did a poor job of stifling a giggle, then continued. "Well, Koenma did send me with a message. Why don't we go to Kuwabara's, and I can tell both of you at once? And you can come along too, Keiko, of course."

"Well… okay," said Keiko. "We can finish this later."

"ALL RIGHT. Get out of jail free, let's do this, Botan," said Yusuke, practically bolting from the dress shop. He only just managed to hear a quiet, "He's incorrigible," from Keiko before he was outside and around the corner on the way to Kuwabara's. The girls would catch up.

#

Kurama stood in front of Koenma's desk in Spirit World, dressed in his formal white tunic and pants. The look he gave the toddler was one of polite expectation. Koenma knew better than to summon Kurama for no reason. Kurama felt Hiei stir at his side. The smaller demon was likely more impatient than Kurama to be done with the meeting.

"Mrm," Koenma made the little moan that he usually made before assigning them a difficult mission. "We have a problem. What do you know about the Emptiness Amulet, Kurama?"

Kurama startled at the name of the artifact, though he knew there would have been no outward sign of his temporary unbalance. "The Emptiness Amulet. The legendary Reikei artifact that renders any demon who wears it impervious to any attack and able to consume the spirit power of other beings. It's been missing for approximately two hundred years." Kurama knew the Amulet well. Yoko Kurama had been planning to steal it shortly before it disappeared. He smiled slightly. He still felt cheated out of that theft.

"Yes, that's all true," Koenma nodded. "We had assumed that where-ever the amulet was, it was out of the hands of any demon, but lately we've been tracking several criminals who are said to be after it, and we think they know where it is."

Hiei was the one to take Koenma's bait. "Where is it, then?"

Kurama bit back the urge to smile. He was not surprised that Hiei was interested in finding the Amulet.

"Southern California," replied Koenma.

"WHERE?" asked Hiei and Kurama at the same time.

"Sunnydale, to be specific. After Tokyo, it is the place where the barrier between Makai and Ningenkai is the weakest. Due to geographic differences, they tend to have more of the western demons, but you get the idea."

_ Hmm, _thought Kurama. _Not a bad place to take a Reikei artifact then. Far enough away to escape King Yama's notice, but still enough supernatural activity to be useful. Yes, very clever. _Kurama had heard of Sunnydale, of course, but he'd never been there. As Yoko, he'd had little interest in Ningenkai, and Shuichi had never had reason to go to California.

"Naturally, you realize what it could mean if a group of demons got their hands on the Emptiness Amulet, so I'm sending Yusuke to Sunnydale right away. He will need help…"

"I'm going," said Hiei shortly, and turned to leave.

"I will go as well," said Kurama. _If only to satisfy my curiosity about this Sunnydale. A Tokyo on the other side of the world, what could be more interesting?"_

_#_

"California?" asked Yusuke for the third time since Botan had told him of his mission.

"That's right! Pack up your sunscreen and swimming trunks. We're going on vacation!" Botan pulled a pair of sunglasses from midair and put them on her face. "Sort of, anyway."

"Sounds good to me," said Yusuke. "Kuwabara?"

"You're not leaving me out of this one, Yurameshi. Sure, drag me to the dark tournament, and then leave me behind when you get a cushy assignment like this, well I'm not falling for it!"

"Easy man, I wanted to know if you were coming."

"Right, well, of course I am," he puffed out his chest and tried to act dignified.

"Then pack your things boys! We've got a long flight ahead of us," said Botan.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

**That Evening…**

It was a quiet night, and in Sunnydale, that was saying something. Buffy was halfway through the fourth cemetery (out of twelve) and had yet to see even the most pathetic of vampires. She found herself wishing one would show up. She wanted a fight. Speaking of pathetic vampires, this cemetery _was_ home to Spike's crypt. Maybe he would show up and make her night a little more interesting. Not that she _wanted_ to see him, but she was bored and Spike was always fun to beat on…

A twig snapped behind her. Buffy spun around, stake-raised, only to see nothing there save a few trees, their lonely branches blowing in the wind. Something wasn't right. She opened herself up to the sounds of the night. Slowly, she picked out the soft padding of footsteps. She smiled with satisfaction and began to make her way towards the sound, then stopped when she heard several hushed voices. She strained her ears to understand what they were saying before realizing the voices weren't speaking English. She pursed her lips. It was hardly surprising, except for vampires, most demons spoke their own languages, which only Giles-es understood, but that didn't mean it wasn't annoying. She would have liked to know what they were up to before attacking. When the voices began to move, she followed them through a nearby cluster of trees, and caught the sight of a scene she was thoroughly tired of seeing: three demons rummaging around in a tomb. Looks like she would get some action tonight after all.

"What is it with you demons and the whole grave-robber thing?" She asked as she approached the trio of demons. Now that she was closer, she could see that one of them, whom she'd originally thought was standing straight up, was actually bent over the tomb, and hence, huge. No, not huge, enormous. He was at least twice as tall and three times as wide as she was and his body was dark green. Three blue horns topped his head. The second demon was also too tall to be human, but other than his height, and a pair of what looked like wolf ears poking out from long bright purple hair, he looked human. The third looked completely human, although his long hair was also bright purple, and like a vampire, he gave off a distinctly non-human vibe.

The demons turned in response to her words.

"I mean, 'cuz, I've honestly lost track of the number of times I've had to stop you guys from stealing things." These demons couldn't be any worse than Adam, right? She told herself as she continued to pun instead of turning around and running. She'd beaten Adam, after all, even if it had taken her friends' help.

One of the demons was trying to say something to her, but Buffy still couldn't understand, despite the fact that this language sounded different than the one she'd heard earlier. It was more human - _Japanese_? Too bad Willow wasn't here, _No,_ Buffy revised her initial reaction, _I'm_ really _glad Willow isn't here. _

"Oh well, I'm not really in the mood to talk anyway," said Buffy, taking a fighting stance.

The three demons started laughing. It was a cruel, amused laughter that sent a shiver down Buffy's spine. It reminded her of Angel's when he'd lost his soul. One of the demons, the one with the purple hair and wolf ears, waved to the big demon, and turned back to the tomb.

The big demon took a few thundering steps forward.

"Demon number one it is, then," said Buffy to herself. She ran forward and launched a spinning kick at the demon's side. The blow landed solidly on the demon's torso, but it did not even appear to notice the impact. He aimed a punch with a giant green fist at her chest - heck, his fist was almost the size of her chest. Buffy dodged and aimed a punch of her own at the demon's ribcage. The demon made no effort to dodge, instead, once again, he stood his ground and took the punch full force. At least this one made him stumble back a few steps, but other than that, it appeared to have had no other effect.

"You're not going to beat him, slayer," Buffy would have recognized that sarcastic voice anywhere.

"Bit busy here, Spike," she said as she dodged another oversized punch from the demon.

"These Japanese blokes, real buggers. Think they're better than us because of their fancy 'demon energy' and all that."

The green demon seemed to have noticed Spike and threw a punch at him, which Spike dodged.

Without speaking any more about it, Spike and Buffy fought the demon together, which to Buffy's annoyance, consisted of them throwing punches and kicks that the demon shrugged off, followed by frantic dodging on their parts of the demon's own attacks.

This continued for a good five minutes until the demon abruptly stopped and clasped his hands. Buffy too paused her attack as the air began to feel heavy, and a slight pressure pressed on her temple. She squinted at the demon. Was there some kind of _light_ gathering around his arm?

"Be a good time to go now, Slayer!" said Spike, running from the fight as fast as Buffy had ever seen him run.

The demon was laughing again, and saying something else in Japanese. Assuming Spike had been right about these being Japanese demons.

Buffy backed away from the demon as the strange feeling grew stronger, until suddenly the feeling vanished and there was a sword in the place of the demon's right hand. That was it. This fight would have to wait for another day. Preferably one after consulting Giles and his nice stack of books on how to kill big, scary demons. Buffy ran. The demon, still laughing, ran after her, his larger size easily making up for his slower speed. Buffy glanced over her shoulder just in time to see the demon bring his sword down, and threw herself to the side. _Too slow!_ She yelled in pain and surprise as the sword sliced into her shoulder. She reached her hand back to touch it. Her hand came back bloody, but the cut seemed to be little more than a graze. _Lucky me, _she thought. Had she been a fraction of a second slower, she would have lost her arm. At least she was almost to the street. _Just a little further_. Buffy rolled to her feet and continued her sprint. It wasn't until she reached the edge of the cemetery that she noticed the demon wasn't following her anymore.

She slowed down to catch her breath.

"It's the Buffster!"

Buffy jumped, then let out a sigh of relief. "Xander."

"Hey Buffy," said Willow.

"Hi guys," said Buffy. "Come one, we need to get inside and call Giles. There's a new big bad in town."

"Scooby meeting it is then," said Willow, and the three quickly turned to make their way to Buffy's House.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"So you say one of the demons turned his left arm into a sword?" asked Giles. He was pacing back and forth across his living room with a book in his hand. Buffy, Willow, Xander, sat on his couch.

"Yeah. Oh, but it did this hand-claspy thing before that, and the air took on this weird feeling." Buffy clasped her hands together in front of her, like the demon had the night before. "And did I mention that he was huge? I've never seen a demon that big before, except for the mayor."

"Wait, this guy wasn't ascended, was he?" Xander fidgeted back and forth in his armchair.

"Doesn't seem likely," said Giles. He set down the book he was looking at on his coffee table, then turned and began rifling through his bookcase.

"Oh, and Spike said they were Japanese," added Buffy.

Giles looked up at her, startled. "What?" He was very pale. Buffy decided he needed to get outside a little more.

"Spike said they were Japanese, and I think I heard them speaking Japanese. Two of them sort of looked like Manga characters."

"Translate?" asked Giles in reference to the "Manga characters" comment.

"Probably male, but with long purple hair and feminine features," said Buffy. She had already described the other two demons, but so far they'd focused on the one she'd fought.

"Oh, I see. Well, that changes things considerably," he went upstairs, in all likelihood to consult another bookcase.

"Does it matter if they're Japanese?" asked Xander. "Buffy will beat them anyway, right?"

Willow shrugged, and Buffy considered what he said. "I don't know. This guy was super powerful, he laughed off my attacks."

"Got it," said Giles, as he came back down the stairs, an open book in his hand. "All three are Yokai,"

"Yok-what?" asked Buffy.

Giles looked a little sheepish when he clarified, "Japanese demons." He then continued, "Fighting them might be difficult. They augment their physical powers with something called 'yoki' or 'demon energy.' It says here," Giles looked down at his book, "that this can make them stronger as it does in the case of vampires, but in the cases of higher class demons, the demon may learn to harness his energy for use in special techniques, either offensive or defensive in character," Giles looked up again. "I'd say your friend last night used his energy to create a sword," looking once more at his book, he continued, "The most powerful demons are also capable of using their energy to conceal themselves in a less conspicuous human form when traveling Ningenkai," he looked up, "Ningenkai being earth as opposed to hell."

"So you mean the demon I fought was probably the least powerful of the three because it didn't look human like the others?"

"Probably," Giles said the word quietly. He took his glasses off, produced a handkerchief from his pocket, and began to clean the lenses."I think we should find out what they were looking for. You said they were digging in a grave? Do you know who's?" He put his glasses back on.

"No, I didn't exactly get the chance to find out."

"We can go check it out," said Willow.

"No, it's too dangerous," said Buffy. "I'll go."

"I thought we settled this with Adam," said Xander. "We're stronger together."

"Alright, alright. We'll check out the tomb today, and I'll patrol tonight," said Buffy.

"And I'll see what else I kind find on Yokai," said Giles. "The Watcher's Council had a speaker on them once, but I'll admit, that was quite a long time ago," he smiled, "And the Council didn't like the presenter's attitude, so they asked her to leave before she got a chance to share much."

"I think I'll brush up on my Japanese," said Willow. "I haven't practiced since High School. Or maybe I'll just find a translation spell."

#

A/N - I will undoubtedly write/update more quickly if I know there are people reading and enjoying the story. :D

revised again 2/20/09. Minor edits.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Kurama's senses started clamoring the second their bus passed an English sign reading "Welcome to Sunnydale". The barrier between Nignenkai and Makai was indeed weak here. It was so weak, in fact, that Kurama felt as though he could reach out his hand and brush the kakai barrier. An early grumble from Hiei had told him that Hiei sensed the weakness of the barrier as well. Kurama grinned, it really was too bad he hadn't made it out here in his Yoko days. He would have had fun. _Perhaps,_ Kurama thought as the bus pulled into the station and their group disembarked, _it will still be fun. _

Yusuke's yawn when they finally reached their motel was ear-splitting. Kurama felt a bit tired himself. It was late in the afternoon of the day after they'd left, which meant they'd been in transit for almost twenty-four hours. Still, the hint of Makai energy in the air revived him in a way that made him want to steal something rather than sleep. The motel also, did not make the idea of sleep appealing. Three of the four lights hanging from the ceiling of the lobby were burnt out, and the fourth light was flickering. The shaggy orange carpet was stained in several places, as were the cracked and peeling plaster walls. A faint smell of alcohol drifted over from the reception counter, behind which a slightly overweight man wearing a white undershirt was slumped in front of a small television, eyes glued to a sporting event of some kind. "Smells just like home," said Yusuke loudly. "Sheesh, Botan, is spirit world on some kind of budget?"

Botan ignored the comment in favor of her stubborn cheer. Marching up to the reception counter, she materialized a bell from thin air, rang it, then made it disappear again. The man jumped and spun around to face her. His eyes skimmed over the counter, as if searching for the missing bell, before settling on Botan. "Hello!" said Botan. "We have three rooms reserved."

The man stared at her, a look of incomprehension on his face.

Botan turned back to the group and smiled sheepishly. "Uh, I don't suppose any of you speak English?"

"Uh…" said Yusuke, at the same time as Kuwabara muttered, "I know a few words but not really enough,"

Kurama was already walking up to the front counter. "Good afternoon, we have three rooms reserved under the name of Botan."

From behind him, Kurama heard Yusuke mutter, "Looks like Kurama's got it under control."

The man behind the counter grunted, but produced the keys and requisite paperwork. Kurama filled it out, then turned back to the group and handed a key to Botan, and one to Yusuke and Kuwabara. When he turned to hand a key to Hiei, Hiei muttered, "I'm sleeping outside."

Kurama grinned in a teasing manner, he had expected no less. "I'll leave the window open," he said as he pocketed the two keys.

Botan's head suddenly appeared in his line of vision. "Right then," she said, "To my room, to discuss our plan of action!"

"I don't need to discuss anything," said Yusuke, "I'm going to sleep."

"Now that's no way to adjust to the time difference," said Botan as she set out for her room. Reluctantly, the rest of the group followed her. After a short meeting, they decided to take naps before setting out for some reconnaissance than night. They all agreed, or at least after Kurama had convinced them all, they all agreed, that in a town ostensibly run by western demons, night would be where the action was.

#

When night came, they split up, dividing the town into four sections, each of them taking a different quadrant of the town. They would see if they couldn't find at least some information on either the Emptiness Amulet or on those seeking it. Kurama was assigned to the Northwest quadrant, an area that seemed to include, as far as he could tell, at least four cemeteries. Graveyards were natural centers of spirit energy, and as such they tended to draw supernatural items and beings to them. They were as good a place to start as any.

The first graveyard he passed through was very quiet. As he walked amongst the trees and tombstones he felt the power of plants, silent and happy as they grew over stone and soil, as well as the usual residual spirit energy, but nothing like the aura the Emptiness Amulet or other Yokai would give off. The instant he entered the second graveyard, however, he knew he was not alone. Kurama decided to let them surround him, perhaps they would be forthcoming with information. To Kurama's disgust, the demons did not reveal themselves with any creativity. Rather, they jumped out from the most obvious of hiding places and attempted to scare him by making lots of noise.

It took Kurama some effort to keep from laughing. They may have looked fully grown, but even children in the Makai had more demon energy than these fools.

"So," said Kurama in English quietly, "A welcoming committee. How convenient, seeing as I have so many questions."

The demons just growled and began to close in on him. Kurama sighed. Not only were they weak, but they were stupid. They still hadn't realized that he wasn't any more human, well, less human really, then themselves. He would have to correct them of their mistake. They lunged forward. Kurama's eye's glinted silver as he reached for his rose.

#

Buffy was making her second round through the Shadyhill Cemetary when she spotted the vampires. It was a whole nest from the looks of it, at least six, and they were sneaking up on a young woman with long, red, hair.

"What's wrong with her?" muttered Buffy. She didn't want to take on six vampires at once, but she couldn't just sit by and watch them kill a civilian. _Civilian. Guess all that army stuff last semester rubbed of on me._ She ran forward, inwardly cursing as the vampires made their attack. She wasn't going to make it in time! She cringed, preparing herself for the inevitable carnage when instead she saw a flash of red, another flash of green, and then, miraculously, all the vampires fall to the ground. _ What in the world? _

She crept forward, taking care to conceal herself now that she wasn't sure what she was dealing with, and hid behind a tombstone, close enough to see the redhead and the group of, Buffy stifled a gasp, now _legless_ vampires. The vampires were moaning and yelling, apparently in every bit as much pain as humans would have been under the same conditions. The girl was bearing down on one of them. She no longer looked innocent. She didn't look particularly human anymore, either. Buffy strained to make out her words.

"Where is the amulet?"

"Don't know what you're talking about," moaned the vampire.

"I don't believe you," said the girl.

"Seriously, man –" a moan cut of his words.

Buffy watched as the girl made her way around to each of the vampires, straining to pick out bits and pieces of the conversations. When the girl had finished talking to all of them she sighed and pulled a rose from her hair.

_Okay, weird…_ thought Buffy.

"Decapitation is it, with you?" said the girl to no one in particular, before calling out, "Rose Whip!"

Another flash of green, and six vampires disappeared into dust. Buffy stared wide-eyed at what could in no way be a human now holding a long, green, whip covered with thorns. A few seconds later and the whip disappeared again, to be replaced by the rose, which the girl, or maybe a boy? The voice had sounded male, slipped into his hair.

_Holy shit, _thought Buffy, as the red-haired demon brushed off his immaculate white shirt and pants and continued his leisurely stroll through the cemetery. Buffy didn't know what she should do. Should she confront the demon? It sounded like a very good way to get killed. Perhaps she should talk to Giles first. The strange weapon was something to go on, wasn't it? A rose that could turn into a whip. Yes, she would go and talk to Giles before trying to fight another of these geographically confused Japanese demons.

#

Hiei was having a good night. There were plenty of trees to spy from, barely any annoying Ningen in the streets, and more than one weak demon to torture. Not that Hiei had time for that now, but it was worth remembering, for the future. At the moment he was busy with one of the Ningen-like demon breeds. Hiei couldn't remember the Reiki name for them, nor did he particularly care. All that mattered was that this demon, with hair too flat and bleached for any self-respecting Yokai, was slower than Kuwabara.

"I'm getting bored," said Hiei to the Ningen-like demon in the most widespread of Makai languages. "Your fighting is pathetic. I don't even think I can kill you honorably. It would be like killing a child." Hiei had the Ningen-demon pinned against a crypt, his katana inches away from his throat. "So you might as well give me the information I want. Where is the emptiness amulet?"

The Ningen-demon snarled a little, then, after a minute, his demon-face melted away to be replaced by a fully human face wearing a sarcastic smile. "So is that what you blokes are looking for? I haven't seen it. Your buddies were looking for it a few tombstones over the other night, though." The Ningen-demon replied in the same language, except for the word "blokes" which Hiei did not understand and decided was a Ningen insult. The Ningen-demon did not seem to realize how much danger he was in. Hiei flicked the tip of his Katana drawing blood from the Ningen-demon's neck.

"I'll take you to it, if you want," said the Ningen-demon. "Hell, you should know though, the Slayer's on to you. She'll probably be patrolling later tonight."

"Who's the Slayer?" asked Hiei.

The Ningen-demon started to laugh.

"I'm not very patient Ningen," growled Hiei. "I have a very limited number of virtues, and patience is not one of them."

His prey didn't seem to realize he'd just been called a human. "The Slayer," complex emotions that Hiei could not begin to decipher lingered on the Ningen-demon's tongue as he said these words, "Is what stops every badass who prances into this town from getting what he wants. If you want your amulet, you'll have to kill her first."

"What is she?" asked Hiei. He was almost interested now.

"Human."

"I should add that I don't have a sense of humor either."

"Killing her is not as easy as it sounds!"

Pathetic. Now the Ningen-demon sounded defensive.

"She finished a real nasty piece of work just a few weeks ago. Sort of a demon-robot-human monster. He couldn't kill her. You're not going to be able to."

"Hn, we'll see," said Hiei, conveniently forgetting that he wasn't allowed to kill humans. Not that he cared about Reiki laws. Hiei smirked as he pictured Koenma choking on his pacifier when he read the report. If the brat thought Hiei was just handing over the amulet when they recovered it, either… He sheathed his Katana and leapt to the nearest tree before the Ningen-demon could recover his balance. He would investigate the tomb the other Yokai had been to and see what could be found.

#

"S'ppose you saw that," muttered Spike as a the pair of giggling witches emerged from his crypt.

"Poor Spike," said Willow sympathetically. "You didn't even see him coming, did you?"

Tara giggled at Willow's comment and added, "He _was_ awfully fast for someone his size."

"Laugh all you want," said Spike, "It's your mate who's going to be under his sword soon enough, and then we'll see who's whistling a cheerful tune."

Willow and Tara's faces immediately lost all traces of mirth. "We-we should go… tell Buffy," said Tara.

Willow nodded, and the two hastened to leave the graveyard.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Yusuke was thoroughly disappointed that he had not run into even a single demon in his sweep of the southwest quadrant of Sunnydale. He glanced at his watch, and deciding that it was still early, began the three street hike to hit one or two of the cemeteries in Kuwabara's quadrant. He'd just entered "Sunnydale Grove of Dead" when he heard a familiar voice shout, "I, the great Kuwabara Kazuma will easily defeat you! All three of you!" A wild grin spread over his face as Yusuke took off in the direction of Kuwabara's shout. It had been too long since he'd had a good fight.

He didn't have to run long before spotting Kuwabara, spirit sword in hand, surrounded by three Yokai. A large green one – _the muscle_, _canon fodder_, Yusuke internally classified him, and a pair of purple-haired demons who looked only mildly amused by Kuwabara's spirit sword.

"Hey, and I thought this was going to be a boring night," said Yusuke as he walked up to the group.

"Oh, hey Yurameshi," said Kuwabara.

_Sheesh, he must be worried if he's not yelling at me to stay out of _his_ fight, _thought Yusuke.

The Yokai did not wait for him to reply. Two of the demons, the big green one and the one with the fox ears attacked Kuwabara, and the smaller, ear-less purple-haired demon turned to Yusuke and began chanting.

"Oh hell no!" said Yusuke, and pointed his finger at the demon.

The demon must have recognized his spirit gun because he immediatly interrupted his chanting to say, "I thought you were at the tournament!"

"It's over! We won, in case you were wondering," yelled Yusuke in return, a light blue glow beginning to gather at the tip of his extended finger.

Apparently that was all it took to scare these demons. All three broke and ran for the trees.

"Oh come on!" called Yusuke as he and Kuwabara dashed after them. The graveyard was no Japanese forest, so it was less than a minute before the chase ended abruptly in front of a chain link fence. The big green demon turned around at the barrier, a sword where his left arm had been. The other two demons didn't even pause before scampering over the fence like squirrels. Yusuke and Kuwabara grinned.

The Yokai attacked first by swinging his sword-arm at Kuwabara's neck. Kuwabara easily blocked the cut with his spirit sword, giving Yusuke the opportunity to leap in and land a punch on the demon's jaw, chest, and jaw again, before the demon managed to counter with a blow of his own. Yusuke dodged that punch and came up laughing. "I'd forgotten what it was like fighting wimps," he said as the demon tipped over and crumbled to the ground.

"I dunno Yurameshi, it's kinda like beating on the defenseless, or somethin'," said Kuwabara. "It's not really fair anymore."

Yusuke ignored him and leapt to where the demon had fallen, ready to attack again, but the demon wasn't moving. "You've got to be kidding me," said Yusuke. "Koenma sent us halfway around the world to fight these punks?"

Kuwabara just shrugged and let his spirit sword dissipate. "The other two got away," he said almost needlessly.

Yusuke nodded and stretched his arms over his head. "Well, that was a nice bit of light exercise. Race you back to the motel," he said, taking off before finishing the sentence.

"Hey Yurameshi, you cheater!" shouted Kuwabara, before following at a sprint.

#

When they got back to the motel, they went to Botan's room where they had agreed to meet and share reports. They were the first ones back, but it wasn't long before first Kurama, and then Hiei returned. When they were all comfortably sprawled across the room, or, at least, Yusuke and Kuwabara were sprawled on the floor while Hiei perched on the desk and Kurama leaned gracefully against the doorway, Botan said, cheerfully as always, "Well boys? Productive night? What do we know?"

"We have a new enemy," said Hiei coldly before anyone else could speak. _That's weird, _thought Yusuke. Hiei was usually quiet at these meetings, only participating if he thought he absolutely had to. That meant this enemy was important.

"Yeah, we met some guys too. They weren't so tough though," said Kuwabara. "Me an' Yurameshi already killed one."

"She's a _local_," added Hiei with a glare at Kuwabara for daring to interrupt.

Kuwabara expertly ignored the glare, but didn't say anything else.

"According to some of the local weaklings she's got a list of kills to her name and is after the Amulet," Hiei continued.

"A girl?!" Kuwabara's silence had not lasted long. "Aww man, you know I can't fight a girl. Maybe we should just go home and let her have the amulet if she wants it so bad."

"Are you insane?" yelled Botan. She jumped up from where she had been sitting on the bed, materialized her oar, and raised it threateningly.

"Okay, okay," said Kuwabara holding up his hands, "I just don't want to have to hit a girl, that's all."

"My sources agree with Hiei's," said Kurama from where he stood. Everyone in the room turned to look at him. "All of the demons I spoke to tonight were afraid of her," he smiled slightly. "Although, they were not exactly difficult to intimidate."

"So we find this girl and kill her if she's got the amulet. Easy enough," said Yusuke. "Do we know what kind of demon she is?"

"No," said Hiei.

"My sources were vague on that account as well," said Kurama. "But they called her 'The Slayer'".

"The Slayer, huh?" said Yusuke, running his hands through his hair. "Kinda a stupid name. Guess we should find her if we want to find the amuelet then and 'slay' her," Yusuke couldn't help himself, he started laughing.

"What's so funny?" asked Botan.

"Nothing, it's just, you know," he fought to take a breath, "A girl called a 'slayer' I mean, sometimes I think Keiko's gonna kill me, but I wouldn't call her a slayer…"

"I'm gonna tell Keiko you said that," said Kuwabara.

"No you're not!" said Yusuke getting control of himself long enough to grab Kuwabara in a head lock.

Kurama and Hiei turned almost as one and left the room.

"Uh," said Botan, "I guess that's a good idea. We should get some sleep and tackle this Slayer,"

Yusuke started laughing again and let go of Kuwabara.

"Tomorrow," finished Botan.

#

**Meanwhile****:**

"There's more of them Giles! More of the Yoki-whatsits." Buffy was pacing back and forth in front of Giles's coach. Tara and Willow sat on the coach with worried expressions on their faces and watched Buffy pace. "And did I tell you about the whip?" continued Buffy, "He had a rose, which he turned into a whip and used to decapitate all of the vampires _at once_."

"You mentioned it," said Giles. To nobody's surprise he was pulling books off his many bookcases and stacking them on the coffee table. "I forgot about this!"

The exclamation made Buffy and everyone else in the room turn to watch Giles pull a huge leatherbound book from behind several other books on one of his least referenced bookcases. He brushed the dust off its cover and set it down in front of Willow.

Willow opened the cover and read off the title page, "Yama's Guide to the Demons of Makai, set forth by the most majestic Ogre, servant to his highness the Great Koenma, translated by Gringle." She looked back up at Giles. "When did you get this? I've never seen it before," said Willow.

"The Watcher's Council gave it to me. Or, rather, they didn't want it, so I took it and nobody complained. That presenter brought it with her from Japan and the Council didn't want anything to do with her after they chased her away," he smiled and began to clean his glasses on his shirt. "See, sometimes their pompousness comes in handy."

"Great, we have a book," said Buffy. "Seriously, Giles, how am I going to fight these guys?" Buffy turned to Willow and Tara. "You said your's had Spike against a wall before you even saw him coming?"

Willow and Tara nodded.

"At least they're not after you," said Giles, "Which should give us some time."

"Well, actually…" said Willow.

Buffy paused her pacing in order to rub her forehead. She didn't like where this was going.

"Spike mentioned something about him coming after you."

"Of course he did," said Buffy. "I am so putting a stake through his heart!" She resumed her pacing. "What weapon did he have?"

"A sword," said Willow.

"A katana," added Tara. She blushed when everyone looked at her.

"At least it sounds normal," said Buffy. "Unlike that freakish rose thing."

"Perhaps it would be advisable for you to stay in until we have these demons identified," said Giles. "Just to be on the safe side." Giles picked up the book again and began leafing through it. "Hmm," he said after he'd been searching for a few minutes. "Is this what the whip looked like?" he set the book down again to show a detailed drawing of a long whip covered in thorns. It looked just like the whip she had seen earlier.

"Yes, that's it. What is it Giles?"

"It's a weapon grown from a rose, sometimes used by animal demons," Giles provided from the text. "According to this, neither the whip nor the rose is the source of power, rather, the demon extends his energy through the plant, thus turning it into a whip. It also says here that this particular strategy was perfected by a notorious fox demon called 'Yoko Kurama'," Giles looked up, face pale. "He's ruthless, powerful, and apparently an infamous thief who always gets what he wants,"

Buffy felt her eyes go wide.

"Oh, wait," said Giles. "There's an annotation here. It says he was killed about fifteen years ago."

Buffy let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "So what does that mean?"

"It means there's another demon using this Yoko Kurama's technique, right Giles?" said Willow.

"It means we need to do more research," said Giles.

Buffy settled down onto a chair for a long night.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Giles yawned as he began returning books to various bookshelves in his living room. "I must say, I think this plan of action is rash, and that you're going to get yourself killed." They had spent the entire night researching and apart from the one link between the whip and "Yoko Kurama" had found nothing.

"We need information. I'll get information," said Buffy. "First I'll find out where they are and then I'll fight them. It's what I do." She unzipped her trusty black duffle bag and began going through the weapons that were in it.

"I'm coming with you," said Willow.

"No way! Come on Will, it's way too dangerous," Buffy hoisted the bag over her shoulder.

Willow stood from where she had been sitting on the couch and crossed to the other side of the coffee table, next to where Buffy now stood. "But I found a translation spell! I mean, talking probably won't help, but I have some other spells too. I found one that will slow rapidly moving objects. That might work on the demon with the katana."

Buffy ran her hand through her hair. Like it or not, it would probably be useful to have Willow there. "Okay," she said reluctantly. "But we'll need to be really careful."

Xander jerked awake from where he'd been dozing in a chair. "I'm coming too," he said getting to his feet somewhat groggily.

"How do you even know what we're talking about?" asked Buffy.

"I was awake!" said Xander.

"Fine, fine," Buffy didn't want to waste anymore time. "We need to go see Willie-the-Snitch now, so we can catch these… things while they're unaware."

Willow and Xander nodded, and the group bid farewell to a worried Tara and Giles.

It did not take them long to get to Willie's, Sunnydale being the small town that it was. When the group entered the bar, as usual Willie startled in an exaggerated manner and said loudly, "Oh look, it's the Slayer! The Slayer, come to my humble establishment!"

Buffy ignored the vampires who attempted to casually leave the bar without attracting their attention, and made straight for Willie.

"Some new demons in town - Japanese, one with red hair, another short, fast, katana. Seen them?"

"Aw gee, you know I don't play that game anymore," said Willie. He picked up a beer tankard from the counter and began cleaning it with a rag.

"You know, really not what I've heard on the streets. Do I _have_ to hit you?" Buffy raised a fist.

"Okay, okay!" Willie backed away. "Your friends are staying at the Sunnydale Motel."

"A _motel_?" asked Buffy in disbelief.

Xander was quick to play off the straight line. "Guess the local cemetery isn't good enough for these guys," he said with a nervous chuckle.

"Hey, don't ask me," said Willie, polishing his glass a few more times. "I hear these guys have been making a real mess with the local crowd, though, so you might want to watch your step."

"Uh huh," said Buffy. "We'll do that." She turned to leave, and Xander and Willow followed.

#

The morning after their initial investigations, Kurama woke to find Hiei burrowed against him despite the small demon's promise not to sleep in the motel. Kurama grinned as he extricated himself from the sheets. Hiei remained asleep until Kurama had just finished cleaning and dressing, at which point he opened an eye and practically leapt out of bed.

"Sleep well?" asked Kurama.

Hiei ignored him, threw on his clothes, cloak, and katana and was about to make for the window when Kurama said, "We were meeting the others."

"Hn," said Hiei. "More babysitting," but refrained from jumping out the window.

"Yes," said Kurama. He opening the door and lead the way to Botan's room. When they got there, Yusuke and Kuwabara were already discussing their plan for the day.

"So where should we go looking for this Slayer?" asked Yusuke when Hiei and Kurama entered.

Hiei somehow managed to glare at the entire room. "I say we just start killing things until she tries to stop us."

Yusuke scratched his head. "I guess that could work," he said.

There was a knock on the door. The entire group looked up and then looked at each other.

Kuwabara was the first one to move. "Guess I'll get that." He answered the door to reveal a young woman with blonde hair holding a crossbow leveled point-blank at Kuwabara's chest. Another young woman with red hair and a young man standing next to her stood behind the girl with the bow.

"Uh, hello?" said Kuwabara, carefully rolling his tongue around the English word.

The woman holding the crossbow turned to the red-head and said something Kurama couldn't hear. Then the red-head said something in a language Kurama didn't recognize, _not English, then_, and a strange feeling washed over the room. _Interesting_, thought Kurama. He took a few steps closer to the door.

"But you're human!" cried out the blond woman loudly to Kuwabara. Yusuke and Kuwabara audibly gasped at the fact that they could understand her words.

_Some kind of translation technique, then,_ thought Kurama, unperturbed. _Useful. _

Kuwabara recovered himself fairly quickly. "Uh, would'ya mind pointing that someplace else?" he asked, gesturing at the crossbow.

Kurama looked over Kuwabara's shoulder. "Perhaps they would like to come in?" he said politely.

Kuwabara nodded and stepped away from the door.

Hiei looked to the door from where he now sat on the desk. "The Slayer, I presume?"

"_She's_ the slayer?" said Yusuke. "But she's human!"

"What do you mean, _I'm_ human? You're the demons!" said the girl.

Kurama began to work through the puzzle in his mind. This _was_ odd. "I don't think she's human, precisely," he said, after a moment of thought. Her spirit energy wasn't human enough – it felt more that of a D-class Yokai. "More like me. Human exterior, demon core," it chafed on Kurama to compare himself to this severely underpowered being, but for the simplicity of explanation, he put up with it.

The girl turned to point the crossbow at Kurama. "What do you mean _I'm_ not human? Of course I'm human."

Hiei leapt off the desk and drew his katana. "Human, demon – she has the amulet. We should kill her."

The girl turned and shot an arrow at Hiei, which he dodged easily. Kurama quickly reached out and grabbed Hiei's collar before he could slice the girl and her companions to pieces,

"Fox, if you don't let me go this instant…" said Hiei

"I know," said Kurama. "But I believe we should wait. While her energy is demonic, it does not feel innately hostile. More like Yukina's than say, your's Hiei."

Yusuke scratched his head. "So maybe they're not evil?"

The redhead moved forward to stand next to the other girl. "I'm confused. Maybe _we're_ not evil? _Who_ are you?"

Yusuke answered first. "Name's Yurameshi Yusuke. Punk, delinquent, and spirit detective. Who are you?"

"Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. Except I don't discriminate, I'll kill any demon who walks into my town."

Hiei pulled himself out of Kurama's hold. "Can I kill her now?"

Before Kurama had the chance to answer, Botan was suddenly in the middle of everything. "Hold on there, now, hold on. Vampire slayer is it? Oh, of course, how silly of me, traipsing all the way over here and never bothering to check our jurisdiction."

"and who are _you_?" asked Buffy.

"Botan, navigator of the River Styx and official Spirit Detective assistant, pleased to meet you," Botan bowed. "I'm so sorry for the confusion, but you see we're really on the same side. We take care of the demon problem in Tokyo, and when some of our locals decided to take a little trip we were sent after them."

"But they're demons," said Buffy, pointing to Kurama and Hiei.

"Actually, my name is Kurama," said Kurama, stepping forward. "And we also assist the Spirit Detective," Kurama bowed. "Don't we, Hiei?" Kurama elbowed him into making a noncommittal grunt.

"Do pardon him. He hasn't had much practice interacting with society," explained Kurama.

Hiei glared at Kurama, but nobody seemed to notice.

The redhead stepped forward. "So let me get this straight, you're a psychopomp," she pointed to Botan, "And you've come with all of them," she pointed at Yusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei, and Kurama, "To catch a bunch of demons who are after..."

"The emptiness amulet," said Botan. "Bingo."

Yusuke scratched his head. He wasn't usually all that quick on the uptake. "And you, and your little friends," he pointed to Buffy and her companions, "are the ones who normally do the demon-catching around here. I get it now."

The young man who had come with the two girls still looked confused. "So they're good demons? They have souls, or something, like Angel?"

"All demons have spirits, silly," said Botan. "But yes, they're on our side."

Buffy finally let her crossbow rest at her side. "Then who is it that's after this amulet, if it's not you guys?"

"Those demons we fought last night, probably," said Yusuke. "Aw man, they've probably found it by now or something. We were focused on you."

"And we were focused on you. I think this would be a good time to go talk to my watcher," said Buffy.

"Your what?" asked Yusuke.

"Old guy who gives us advice," said Buffy.

"Oh, well, I guess that's better than getting orders from a toddler, so we might as well meet this guy."

"Yes," said Kurama. "I think that would be very interesting." Who knew what secrets of western demons or artifacts such a "watcher" might have? Kurama grinned, this mission had just gotten a lot more interesting.

#

A/N - Thanks to everyone who reviewed, I'm glad you're enjoying the story. There is one reference here to season five of Buffy, when she finds out that the first slayer was a girl who was merged with the power of demons by some early shamans, thus the reference to her "demon core".


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Kurama and Hiei walked at the rear of the group, both of them keeping wary eyes on their supposed new "allies". As the group approached an innocent-enough looking house, Yusuke scratched his head and asked, "Why are we here again?"

Botan was quick to answer, "Yusuke, don't be rude! We're out of our jurisdiction. The least we can do is meet with their, er, what was it again?" asked Botan.

The blonde girl, Buffy, pulled open a door that looked like it would better fit a western-style monastery than a house and answered, "My Watcher."

Kurama added, "It would also be wise to form a plan before going after the wielder of the emptiness amulet."

"Yeah, whatever," said Yusuke. "We'll still kick its ass, emptiness thingy or not."

An anxious looking middle-aged man hurried to the doorway as soon as the door opened. "How did it go?" he asked, then, upon noticing their large and colorful group added, "I see you found the Yokai... do come in."

Fifteen minutes later the group was seated around Giles's coffee table. A western tea service sat on it, untouched by anyone.

"So there _is_ a Spirit World? That's absolutely fascinating," said Giles once introductions were finished.

"Well, just don't tell anyone," said Botan. "Reiki can't function if most humans know about it, and then we'd be in ever so much trouble."

"Fascinating," repeated Giles, this time his eyes lingering on Hiei and Kurama. "It's not often that a person gets to meet a demon from your locale," he continued, "Perhaps you would be so kind as to tell me what type of demons you are?" He reached behind him a pulled a small spiral notebook from the top of a bookcase and a pen from his pocket. He flipped open the notebook, clearly ready to take notes. "We did have trouble finding you in our book," Giles gestured to Yama's Guide, which was lying open on the coffee table.

At this Hiei got up and began pacing the living room.

Kurama shot Hiei a look that said clearly, _behave!_, then turned his attention to the book. He barely managed to hide his shock when he recognized the title. "How did you come by this?" Such a book in the hands of a human -!

"I got it from a presenter to the Watchers' Council years ago. A rather unorthodox woman, pink hair…"

"Genkai?" asked Kuwabara.

"Yes, that was her name!" said Giles.

"Aw man, you know the old hag?" said Yusuke. He turned to Buffy. "I'm really sorry. If he's anything like _she _is…"

"Only briefly," said Giles. "She called the Watcher's Council a bunch of half-dead, stuffed dimwits who would probably faint if they ever saw a Japanese demon, and they kicked her out," Giles smiled. "Personally, I think she's right, but..." Giles took off his glasses and cleaned them on his shirt.

"Perhaps we can make a deal," said Kurama, ignoring the fact that the man's question had been extremely rude, even for a western human. "I'll tell you a bit about the Yokai, and you answer my questions about western magic and demonology. You seem to have quite a collection here." Kurama chose his words carefully. He wasn't about to give the human any information on himself or Hiei, but there were many harmless or useless tidbits he could share about the Makai. And the knowledge to be gained in return…

"Of course," said Giles.

Kurama couldn't help but notice the smug look on Hiei's face from across the room.

_Stupid Ningen. He should know better than to bargain with a fox_, said Hiei telepathically.

Kurama only gave Hiei his most innocent, model human-teenager smile.

Hiei grunted and looked away.

Buffy stood and wrung her hands in front of her. "I think we'd better take care of the Yokai who's still out there first though, what's it he's after?"

Yusuke was the first to answer "Some amulet."

"Not just any amulet," Kurama corrected. "The Emptiness Amulet. It's one of the seven sacred Reiki Artifacts. Any demon who wears it is invincible." Kurama paused then added, "Of course, he's also filled with an insatiable hunger for power. The longer a demon wears the amulet, the more destructive he becomes. Eventually, he'll consume anything in his path - spirit power, demon power, plant-life, anything."

Yusuke stared at Kurama. "Why didn't you mention that before?" he demanded.

"Didn't I?" said Kurama, almost absently. Kurama was watching Hiei again, who unnoticed by anyone else, was picking through Giles's impressive armory and trying out a variety of blade weapons and axes. Kurama stifled a small smile. Several of the weapons were bigger than Hiei.

"So how should we beat it?" asked Buffy. "Will, do you have a spell that might counteract the invincibility?"

Willow paused for a moment before answering. "No, but all we have to do is get the amulet away from the demon, right? A simple levitation spell would work for that."

Kuwabara shifted in his seat. "Hey, that's pretty cool. You take away the amulet and then the rest us jump in and save the day!" Kuwabara raised his fist in anticipation.

Kurama began to answer, "I don't know that it will be that easy to take it away, but it's," when he was interrupted by a startled, "Careful with that!" from Giles. Apparently he had finally noticed Hiei, who was now experimenting with a mace.

"Its motion is severely limited," said Hiei critically, putting the weapon back on the rack. "Not maneuverable."

Kurama continued his sentence, "But it's worth a try. If he got the amulet last night, I expect the wielder is getting quite hungry. He will probably be in search of a large group of humans so as to consume their spirit energy. Do you know any places around here where large numbers of people congregate?"

Buffy, Willow, and Xander groaned.

Xander quirked a smile, "It's amazing the place is still open, given the number of hell-mouth beasties who treat it like an all-you-can-eat buffet."

Yusuke cracked his knuckles. "What place?"

"The Bronze," said Buffy. "It's the local nightclub. And it opens in an hour."

#

Author's note: Hey everyone  sorry for the delay in updating. I've been a bit swamped with work. But never fear, the big showdown is on its way, followed by what I'm sure will be a witty and brilliant ending/epilog. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed, extra thanks to Juniper Red for ideas that went into this chapter and the one prior to it.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The Bronze was slightly smaller than the Japanese Clubs Kurama had, on occasion, visited, but the dank stale-air atmosphere of too many perspiring humans packed together in a small place was very much the same. At the front of the club a young woman moaned into a microphone, accompanied by the low sounds of bass guitars and drums. Kurama felt Hiei and his other teammates follow him inside, and the Vampire Slayer and her companions follow them. Kurama didn't look back. Instead, he scanned the crowd for any sign of a Yokai passing as human.

"Are they here?"

Kurama recognized the voice as belonging to the exceedingly nervous human male who'd followed the Slayer and the red-haired girl into the bar. Kurama had yet to determine what he contributed to their team.

Yusuke was the first to answer. "I can sense their energy, but they're hiding, I think." He grinned.

Buffy began to ask a question, probably along the lines of how they would find the demons, when Yusuke climbed onto one of the tall bar-style tables and shouted at the top of his lungs, "HEY DEMONS – Quit hiding, and come fight!"

Hiei grunted. Kurama agreed, one of these days they really would have to teach him a strategy other than risking his life.

Lucky for them, these demons didn't appear to be the brilliant strategists themselves. Two purple-haired Yokai, one with fox-like ears on top of his head, stood from where they had been seated at another bar table not two feet away from their group.

The fox-eared demon was the one to speak. "But why would I want to fight, when I'm so hungry?" A large sapphire on a silver chain sparkled at the collar of his black eastern-style tunic. A blue sash was tied around the waist of his matching black pants.

Kurama stiffened almost imperceptibly. "Takeshi," he said quietly.

The demon jerked his head toward Kurama. "Who the hell are you?" he asked.

"You should have heeded my advice sixteen years ago when I told you the amulet was _mine._"

A look of equal parts horror and confusion spread across the Yokai's face. "But you were killed, how can… you're bluffing. You're nothing but a puny human." The Yokai reached into his sash. When his hand came out again, his fist was closed tight around something.

"You're as foolish as you always were, Takeshi," said Kurama.

Meanwhile, Kurama noticed that Yusuke had trained his spirit gun on Takeshi.

"Old friend of your's, Kurama?" asked Yusuke.

"Hardly," said Kurama, taking out his rose. "But I hesitate to use the word rival seeing as he never was even close to my match. ROSE WHIP!" Kurama produced his whip at the same time that Takeshi opened his hand to reveal a palmful of metal beads.

Kurama continued in a voice that could only be described as mocking, "I present to you all, Yoko Takeshi."

Takeshi laughed at this introduction. "I'm not your match, _Kurama? _Even if you are who you claim to be, at least I still have my original body, _and_ I have the emptiness amulet." Takeshi touched the amulet, and Kurama's whip withered and died.

"All right, enough catching up," said Yusuke. "SPIRIT GUN!" He let the shot off almost point-blank into the demon's chest. The resulting explosion knocked Takeshi and his demon companion to the ground. Panicked screams of Bronze patrons and the pounding of feet towards the exit filled the air as the sound of the explosion faded. Before even half the bystanders in the Bronze had managed to leave, however, Takeshi had climbed back to his feet.

"Aah, that was delicious!" said Takeshi. "So much energy, so powerful! Do fire another, I'm sure it will be more effective."

Hiei glared at Yusuke. "Forget the purpose of the amulet, detective?"

"Eh, it was worth a try," said Yusuke with a shrug. "Oh, look, the spillover fried his little friend."

Kurama nodded. That was something, at least. The demon who'd been standing next to Takeshi had not gotten up. Kurama pulled a seed from his hair and grew another rose.

Takeshi glanced at his fallen companion. "Aah, I should thank you for that too – saves me the trouble of killing him myself," he continued.

Kurama heard a blaze, and out of the corner of his eye he saw Kuwabara's spirit sword spring to life. "You honorless loser. I've seen this before…" Kuwabara charged the demon with his sword. "No matter how much energy you think you can consume, eventually you'll get indigestion and burst!" Kuwabara stabbed his sword into the demon.

"Ooh, that's good, a little to the left," Tekeshi grabbed Kuwabara's wrist and pulled the spirit sword to the left side of his chest. The burning hole that was left in the wake of the sword vanished almost instantly. "Yeah, that's good," the fox demon almost purred.

Hiei seemed to have had enough. "You fool, he's not like Biyakku," growled Hiei to Kuwabara. In what was a blur even to Kurama's trained eye, Hiei lunged forward, drew his katana, and used Kuwabara's head as a springboard to launch himself at Takeshi's face. After a startled "HEY!" from Kuwabara, and what Kurama guessed was about twelve slashes with his sword, Hiei landed on the other side of Takeshi. "It's the amulet that lets him absorb the energy, not his stomach." Hiei finished his sentence with a disdainful smirk.

Twelve fine red lines appeared across Takeshi's body, and he startled enough to let go of Kuwabara. Kuwabara had only just managed to scramble away when the lines on Takeshi's body vanished. Takeshi's full-throated laugh filled the Bronze.

Kurama bit back the urge to cringe. Takeshi's laugh was as grating to Kurama's human ears as it had been to his fox ears.

"I've let you have your fun," said Takeshi with a grin. "My turn now. Tentacles of Iron!" The beads held in Takeshi's palm began to grow into eight strands of barbed wire, just as a plant might grow from Kurama's hand.

"Rose Whip!" Kurama shouted again, while at the same time a female voice added, "Hey no fair, we didn't get _our_ shot yet!"

Kurama risked a glance over his shoulder to see Buffy standing behind him, battle axe in hand, as calmly as if she had not just seen all of their attacks fail. Kurama sighed quietly. He wished they could have left this particular trio behind. They would only get in the way.

Hiei was less discrete with his opinion. "Amateurs. You should have left with the rest of the _humans_," he said coldly.

The male in their trio, Xander, rose to Hiei's bait as quickly as Kuwabara would have. "Hey you jerk, it's our town."

Before anything else could be said on either side, Willow shouted, "Kwa levarsit tes polun!" The amulet began to shake ever so slightly from where it hung around Takeshi's neck.

Everyone left in the Bronze, which at this point consisted only of their own group and Takeshi, turned their eyes to the shaking amulet. _If indeed it came off, it would be a great advantage, _thought Kurama.

Unfortunately, after a few seconds, the amulet stilled again. "Nice try," said Takeshi, "But you'd have as much luck trying to take a plant, from _him,_" the demon emphasized his last word by sending his whips shooting at Kurama.

"Kurama!" shouted Hiei and Yusuke at the same time.

Kurama flicked his whip just in time to slice Takeshi's whips into twenty-four neat pieces. "Still trying to copy my techniques, Takeshi?" Kurama was slightly amused. He would have though Takehsi would have learned _something _in the last sixteen years. "Your wrist-work is as sloppy as it was last time we fought."

"Let's see you try that without your plants _Kurama_…" said Takeshi, rubbing his amulet. Kurama noticed that a slight hint of fear had crept into Takeshi's voice. It was almost imperceptible, indeed, it was possible that even Takeshi hadn't noticed it, but it was there. It seemed Takeshi remembered their last fight.

Suddenly a burst of pain shot across his chest. Kurama cried out, more out of shock than pain – he hadn't _seen_ an attack – and looked down at his chest. His tunic was as white as ever. He was uninjured. It was only after Kurama took a moment to asses his energy that he located the source of the pain – the life power was gone from every one of his seeds.

"Hiei no!" Yusuke's shout quickly turned Kurama's attention away from his seeds and to where Hiei still stood on the other side of Takeshi. The small demon was unwrapping his bandages. "No Hiei!" echoed Kurama.

Hiei ignored both of them.

"You'll destroy half the town!" said Kurama

"I don't care," said Hiei.

"Do you really want to go back to Reiki prison?" asked Kurama.

Hiei paused, then continued unwrapping his bandages.

"Do you really want _me_ to go back to Reiki prison?" Kurama amended.

Hiei's glared then shouted, "Move your tails you stupid fox!"

Kurama didn't think, just ducked and dodged, just in time to miss a scimitar shaped blade hurled by Takeshi. Kurama glanced first at Takeshi, to make sure he wasn't about to throw another blade, then back at Hiei. He had re-tied his bandages while Kurama had dodged. That was something, at least, although inwardly Kurama scolded himself for taking his eyes off Takeshi. He _knew_ that takeshi liked to throw blades when his opponents weren't paying attention!

Yusuke charged Takeshi. "That's it! I'm taking that amulet!" He shouted as his fist began to glow with his spirit energy.

Takeshi's whips lashed, but somehow Yusuke managed to dodge under them. His punch landed solidly on Takeshi's jaw, but despite the force of the impact, Takeshi didn't move an inch. Instead he returned Yusuke's punch with a solid blow to the Spirit Detective's chest. The blow propelled Yusuke across the room. Yusuke tumbled through the air, his legs spinning as he tried to orient himself for a decent landing, to no avail. He crashed unceremoniously into a table.

Takeshi laughed again. "Did I mention I don't _have _to just eat the energy? If I want to I can turn it against _you_." Takeshi resumed his laugh, clearly in no hurry to follow up on his advantage.

Kurama scoffed. That fit with the Takeshi he had known. A glimmer of motion caught Kurama's eye. Buffy was sneaking up behind Takeshi with her axe. _But – why? The axe won't work, unless… _Suddenly Kurama realized her plan and could have slapped himself for not thinking of it earlier, himself.

A loud thwack echoed in the empty room, followed by the sound of a small object hitting the ground. Buffy had cut the chain to the amulet with her axe. Her axe also bit deep into the demons neck, but wound healed before the amulet fell to the ground.

"SPIRIT GUN!" shouted Yusuke the moment the amulet hit the ground from where he still lay sprawled on the ground. A huge ball of blew fire hurtled across the room.

"Get out of the way!" Kurama shouted to Buffy, who, luckily enough, seemed to have thrown herself away from Takeshi in time.

For the second time that night, the blast hit Takeshi in the chest. But unlike before, the demon went down, and stayed down.

As the smoke cleared, the tantei could only look at each other and wonder… _why didn't we think of that? Why didn't we think to cut the chain?_

_#_

Author's Note: The update was slow because this chapter took some time to write – you wouldn't have wanted a disappointing final battle, now would you? Stay tuned, epilog still to come!


	9. Epilog

A/N: Yes - the last chapter, finally. I also cleaned up the rest of the story, so feel free to read it again, as a whole, and review!

Epilog

The morning after the fight, Kurama woke to find Hiei gone, even though they'd both fallen into bed almost as soon as they'd returned from The Bronze the previous night. Kurama would have bet one of his tails that the Emptiness Amulet was gone as well. He smiled a little, Hiei was cute when he was predictable. With that thought, Kurama put on a long green tunic over a light yellow shirt, then left the motel. Hiei would be experimenting with the amulet somewhere deserted, which meant he was probably in the forest bordering one side of the town.

The forest wasn't large, so it didn't take Kurama long to find him. Hiei sat at the mouth of a cave, his shirt and headband both off, and his Jagan eye open. The emptiness amulet sat in his lap, where its blue facets glinted in the sun. Hiei held his katana in one hand and with an almost surgical precision stabbed himself in the stomach.

Kurama flinched even as what would have been a deadly wound healed. "We completed the mission successfully, Hiei," said Kurama. "There is no need to commit Seppuku."

Hiei did not reply as he pulled the sword out of his stomach.

Kurama walked up to stand next to the smaller demon.

"It amplifies the Jagan," said Hiei, sounding as if he was slightly drunk with the power. "They both want more."

Kurama stooped and scooped the amulet out of Hiei's lap. Hiei did not protest, so Kurama sat down next to him, and the two stared at the trees in companionable silence. Nothing more needed to be said. Hiei would not go after the amulet again. He'd learned his lesson with the Shadow Sword, and what happened when the Jagan began to make friends with old Reiki artifacts. Even Hiei wasn't that crazy.

They lay their together in the sun, enjoying the warm weather and a breeze that felt as if it was right out of Makai. Neither of them felt the need to go anywhere. Kurama had a meeting with Giles in a few hours, but until then, he planned to thoroughly enjoy his morning.

#

Yusuke and Kuwabara were just leaving their room to see what Sunnydale had in the way of arcades when there was a knock on their door. Yusuke answered it to, once again, reveal Buffy, only this time she was minus the crossbow and backup.

"Hi," she said in Japanese.

"Uh, Hey," said Yusuke. He wasn't really sure what to say. Lucky for him, Kuwabara was seldom quiet.

"Hey, how come you can talk to us without your friend?" he asked. "In Japanese, I mean."

Buffy held up her hand to reveal a plain silver ring. "Willow put her translation spell on a ring for me. You're speaking English, to my ears."

"Oh," said Kuwabara. "Uh, there any arcades around here?"

Buffy looked confused by the question. "Um, I don't know. I guess, I just, what are you? See, the last Slayer I met went kind of crazy, like, homicidally insane, crazy, so I guess I was just curious. You have those powers..."

Yusuke fidgeted and walked past Buffy and out the door. He didn't really want to talk to her.

"Hey the lady's talking to you, punk!" yelled Kuwabara after him. "I'm sorry, he's been really moody since the tournament. We should just follow him. He'll have to talk to you eventually."

To Yusuke's disappointment, Buffy seemed happy to follow this advice. Yusuke didn't know where he was going, so as he wandered through the town, he listened to Kuwabara and Buffy chat behind him. The talked about their histories fighting demons. How Yusuke was Spirit Detective and Kuwabara helped him out. How they'd won the Dark Tournament. How Buffy was "The Chosen One", and some of her cases.

Eventually Yusuke found himself in a park. He finally stopped walking and turned to face Kuwabara and Buffy, his curiosity getting the better of him. "How do you fight demons without using any of your spirit energy?"

"I have super-strength, that helps," said Buffy. "But I need to know more about my power. You guys seem to know more about it than I do."

"Eh, that was just Kurama. He always acts like he knows more about whatever," said Yusuke.

"Oh," said Buffy. She paused for a moment then added, "Can you teach me that gun thing?" she mimicked Yusuke's spirit gun. "Or your sword?" she asked Kuwabara.

"You don't want to know what I went through to learn that," said Yusuke. "I still have nightmares about it."

"It just sort of happened for me," said Kuwabara. "I was about to get killed, and it just appeared."

"Koenma can just give you the power but then you have to work for him, and he's really annoying," added Yusuke.

Buffy narrowed her eyes. "I've almost died a lot of times," she said. "No fireworks." She paused then added, "Okay, no fireworks unless there was dynamite, or a rocket launcher, or something of that sort."

"Maybe your power just works differently then ours then," suggested Kuwabara. "If you ever come to Japan though, you could meet Genkai."

"If she likes pain, anyway," grumbled Yusuke. "Stupid hag."

"I see," said Buffy. She smiled at them. "Call me if you ever come back to Sunnydale. We'll fight more of the bad." With that, she turned and left the way they'd come.

"Man, she got a rocket launcher?" asked Yusuke a few minutes later. "_Months_ of torture to defeat Toguro, and not one of us ever thought of using a rocket launcher."

"Wonder where she got it," muttered Kuwabara. "Let's go find that arcade."

#

Kurama left Giles's house feeling like a cat in the cream. Tucked under his arm was a large tome on western magic and demonology. In return, he'd told Giles all about Makai Knuckleberries and Woodroot, Makai weather patterns, and a few other tidbits that any being who'd ever so much as set one foot in the Makai would know. Yes, this had been a _very _productive trip. If he'd been in his fox form, he would have been wagging all five of his tails.

#

When Kurama had left his house after their long and fascinating tea, Giles carefully pulled out Yama's Guide. He had learned more from his discussion with the demon than Kurama had guessed. Carefully, he opened the book to the page on "Yoko Kurama", picked up a pen, and added a second annotation beneath the first. "While some believe that the Spirit Fox was killed fifteen years ago, there is good evidence to suggest that he survived in the form of a human teenager. Those who encounter him should take care, and remember that a being of immense age and power lies behind his seemingly innocuous human face.

###


End file.
